RECAP: Detroit falls behind early in 4-1 loss at Boston

BOSTON -- After falling to the Boston Bruins, 4-1, at TD Garden on Saturday night, the Detroit Red Wings know there are several things they must clean up in order to get back into the win column.

Winless in their past three games, the Red Wings are avoiding the trap of amplifying losses this early into the 2023-24 season. But Andrew Copp emphasized Detroit "can't let losses stack up."

"This is where the maturity in the room needs to step up and right the ship here," Copp said. "We can't let this go on for too long. If you take 10-game segments at a time, there's a big difference between 6-3-1 and 5-4-1, right? 6-3-1 puts you in a playoff spot. 5-4-1 says you're on your couch."

Goalie Ville Husso made 27 saves for the Red Wings, who dropped to 5-3-1 (11 points). The Bruins improved to 7-0-1 (15 points).

After coming up empty on a power play shortly before the halfway mark of the first period, Detroit found itself trailing, 1-0, at 10:33 when Boston scored a man-advantage goal. The Bruins doubled their lead, 2-0, at 14:36.

"I think a lot of it was our start," Copp said. "We just didn't come out with the right mindset."

Boston outshot Detroit, 8-6, in a scoreless second period.

Joe Veleno snapped Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman’s shutout bid at 6:40 of the third period when he buried a shot in the left face-off circle to cut his club's deficit, 2-1.

Daniel Sprong tallied the lone assist on Veleno’s fifth goal in as many games. Veleno currently ranks second among Red Wings skaters with five goals through eight contests, trailing only Alex DeBrincat, who has nine.

"We got fortunate enough to score that goal," Veleno said. "It brought a bit of energy, but I think it was too little too late."

Boston capitalized on a penalty shot at 11:19 to push ahead, 3-1, then put the game away for good with an empty-net goal at 17:41 for the 4-1 final.

"I didn't mind our 5-on-5 game," Detroit head coach Derek Lalonde said. "Didn't have a ton of energy over the first two periods, needed something to spark us. Joe's goal did. I loved us after that."

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will wrap up a two-game road trip out east on Monday night, playing the New York Islanders at UBS Arena.

QUOTABLE

Lalonde on facing top-tier clubs like the Bruins

"The narrative that some of these top teams are going to come back to the pack, I just don't see it. We need to find a way to be better in these types of games. Find a way to get points."

Veleno on his takeaways from Saturday's loss

"We got to be better and come out strong. We can't be chasing games like this, especially against teams like that...We need to get to harder areas a lot more. I thought we weren't getting enough traffic in the goalie's eyes."

Veleno on Boston's penalty kill

"They didn't give us chances to make any plays. We just got outplayed on the PK. You got to give them credit. They're a hard, fast team that puts a lot of pressure. We just weren't connecting today on making plays. (Power play) been good at the start of the year, but we just got to be better next game and put that one past us."

Copp on if the Red Wings put pressure on Swayman

"Maybe a little bit. Only 23 shots, but I think after the first we were a lot better. I think we got in his eyes a little bit more. Had traffic and some good chances. The power play wasn't clicking as well as it has been tonight, but we only scored one goal. You got to get to the front of the net a little bit and get a few point shots through."